One clear memory of attending Croke Park many years ago was the number of men wearing Pioneer pins. It was remarkable. At the time there were close to half a million pioneers in Ireland from a population about half today’s size, when the number of pioneers is about 100,000.
Not too many years before my trip to Croke Park, the late Oliver Flanagan TD was quoted in The Irish Times in 1968, saying that it was his opinion that “the hallmark of every Irish man and woman should be the Pioneer emblem and the Fáinne because in the grand tradition of our faith and fatherland, temperance, good citizenship, love for our country, its language and culture should and must be our aim”.
Despite the fall in visibility of Pioneer pins, alcohol consumption in Ireland, although high, has been declining in recent years. A contributory factor may be the rise in prices of some wines and spirits. Another may have been the Public Health Act, 2018, introduced with all-party agreement.
The act was designed to reduce alcohol consumption and contained a variety of measures, including minimum pricing, the separation of alcohol from other goods for sale in shops, and advertising restrictions. The enforcement of all its provisions aimed to come into effect by 2026.
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The temperance movement originated in the United States as long ago as the 19th century where evangelical Protestants were strong advocates of temperance. Many women encouraged temperance as a pre-emptive strike against possible male violence. The first Prohibition Law was passed in Maine in 1851.
The licensing laws in Ireland have changed over the years. For example, for many years, pubs closed on Good Friday.
The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association will be 130 years old in 2028. It was founded by four women and a Jesuit priest, Fr James Cullen, in 1898. One of the women, Frances Sullivan, was the American wife of AM Sullivan, editor of The Nation newspaper.
At first the organisation was for women, but soon included men. Pioneer members formed a wide spectrum, including the Dublin labourer Matt Talbot, and the Dublin lawyer and son of the lord chancellor, John Sullivan.
The Pioneer monthly magazine first appeared in 1948, a few years after the second World War. It continued for almost 50 years, until 1996. One article which appeared in an early issue was by former GAA player and one-time president of the GAA, Mick Loftus.
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He worked as a GP in Mayo for many years and as coroner in north Mayo for 30 years. He encountered road traffic accidents and suicide where alcohol was a factor. He said alcohol abuse went beyond the individual and affected many, especially children.
A Confirmation pledge, to be taken by children at the time of Confirmation around the age of 11-12, was introduced in the early 1930s. The pledge involved a promise to abstain from alcohol until the age of 18. More recently the pledge was expanded to include drugs, vaping and cigarettes.
Pioneers are asked to say a prayer daily called the Heroic Offering addressed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “For Thy sake, to give good example, to practise self-denial, to make reparation to thee for the sins of intemperance, I will abstain for life from alcoholic drink.”
The prayer reflects the social, the spiritual and the individual aspects of the Pioneers.
There is substantial evidence that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs can contribute to traffic incidents. In Ireland in the first 10 months of 2025 there were 4,000 drink-driving arrests.
Excessive alcohol can also damage the liver and other organs.
Drinking habits and tastes have changed over the years. Because of the rise in off-licences, more drinking takes place in homes and many pubs have closed. Overall, household expenditure on alcohol and tobacco has stabilised in the last few years.
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It is difficult to get a totally objective view on alcohol in Irish society. On the one hand there are those with a vested interest in sales; on the other there are those who encourage abstinence.
Diarmaid Ferriter’s fascinating book on the Pioneers in 20th century Ireland, A Nation of Extremes, concludes with a quotation from the Jesuit Fr Micheál Mac Gréil: “It has always been a fruitful Ignatian principle that we must begin with the people where they are at the present time. Symbols and practices which no longer make sense to people must be changed.” Could “extremes” become moderates?
Finola Kennedy is an economist and author of Cottage to Creche: Family Change in Ireland (2001), Frank Duff: A Life Story (2011) and Local Matters: Parish, Local Government and Community in Ireland (2022)
